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Thursday, January 30, 2014

U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has degraded India's aviation safety rating to Category 2 under its International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA) program, based on a recent reassessment.

Iraq has requested U.S. a Foreign Military Sale of 24 Boeing AH-64E APACHE LONGBOW Attack Helicopters and associated equipment, parts, training and logistical support for an estimated cost of $4.8 billion.

This proposed sale of AH-64E APACHE helicopters will bolster its close air support, armed reconnaissance and anti-tank warfare capabilities. Iraq is upgrading its military by ordering more advanced military equipments after decade long sanctions and US led invasion ruined its military capabilities. Iraq has recently requested a deal for Hellfire missiles.

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Airbus’ A350 XWB MSN3 development aircraft with a team of 48 Airbus specialists have arrived at Iqaluit, Canada for several days of cold weather trials. The various tests for the aircraft its engines and its systems include a ‘cold soak’ down to minus double-digit temperatures.

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

US Navy and Marine Corps' newest small unmanned aircraft system RQ-21A Blackjack
began its initial operational test and evaluation (IOT&E) in early
January at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms,
California.

Canadian aircraft maker Bombardier has delayed service entry of its new generation cseries airliner, as the flight test phase will require more time than originally anticipated, company said in a press release on Jan 16.

India has lifted restrictions on flights using Airbus A380 super jumbo airliners to India. A380 flights to Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bangalore airports will be allowed which has the required infrastructure for A380 operations. India banned A380 flights due to concerns that foreign carriers may affect international traffic on state run Air India airlines.

Sunday, January 26, 2014

European Space Agency’s (ESA) comet-chasing Rosetta spacecraft woke up, after around two and a half years(957 days) in slumper, during which there was no contact with the probe.
The four alarm clocks on board Rosetta woke up the probe from deep-space hibernation at the stroke of 10.00 (GMT) on 20 January 2014.

Iraq has requested a deal with U.S. for AGM-114K/R Hellfire missiles to bolster its attack capabilities against the insurgent forces.
The $82 million worth possible sale through Foreign Military Sale (FMS) route, consists 500 AGM-114K/R Hellfire missiles, Hellfire missile conversion, blast fragmentation sleeves, and installation kits, containers, transportation, and associated equipment, parts, training and logistical support.
Hellfire missiles will improve the Iraq Security Forces capability to support current on-going ground operations and future contingency operations.
The combat proven HELLFIRE missile is extensively used by U.S. Forces in Iraq and Afghanistan from its Apache attack helicopters and Predator UAVs for precision strikes.
It can be launched from multiple air, sea, and ground platforms, offering multi–mission, multi-target capability and precision–strike lethality.
The latest HELLFIRE II model is the AGM-114R multi–purpose missile consolidates the capabilities of all previous HELLFIRE II variants equipped with semi–active laser (SAL) seekers into a single missile that can defeats a broad range of targets.

Friday, January 24, 2014

Indian built HAL Dhruv helicopter got a new role as an aerial mineral exploration and mapping platform on Jan 22, when Mr. Dinsha Patel, the Minister of Mines dedicated custom-made Advanced Light Helicopter-Dhruv named Garuda Vasudha to the nation.

The new generation Airbus A350 XWB airliner will debut at the 2014 Singapore Airshow to be held at the Changi Exhibition Centre, from February 11th to 16th, marking the first full display of the aircraft at an international air show.

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Raytheon and the French Air Force completed a
demonstration of a penetrator variant of a Paveway™ GBU-50 laser guided bombs from a Mirage
2000D multirole fighter jet. The weapon met all flight objectives and
scored a direct hit against a reinforced concrete slab.

The success of Tejas fighter programme for Indian Airforce, built the confidence of Indian Navy to entrust Aeronautical Developmental Agency (ADA) with the design and development of naval version of LCA Tejus for operation from aircraft carriers.

Sunday, January 19, 2014

This was the third consecutive successful launch and the last in the series of development flight trials. The missile reached a height of over 850 km, covered the range in about 20 minutes, hit the target with two digit accuracy.

Agni-IV is lighter in weight and has two stages of solid fuel propulsion and a payload with re-entry heat shield. The re-entry heat shield withstood temperatures in the range of 4000 degree centigrade and made sure the avionics function normally with inside temperature reaching less than 50 degree centigrade. Compared to the 50 tonne Agni-3 with a range of 3000 km, Agni-4 weighs just 17 tonnes.

Agni-IV is equipped with modern and compact avionics with redundancy to provide high level of reliability, and fifth generation on board computer. It can correct and guide itself for inflight disturbances. The missile features a indigenous Ring Laser Gyros based high accuracy inertial navigation system (RINS) and Micro Navigation System (MINGS) complementing each other in redundant mode. The high performance onboard computer with distributed avionics architecture, high speed reliable communication bus and a full digital control system have controlled and guided the missile to the target.

Friday, January 17, 2014

U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified U.S Congress on January 13 of the possible Foreign Military Sale (FMS) to Israel for V-22B Block C Aircraft and associated equipment, parts, training and logistical support for an estimated cost of $1.13 billion.

BAE Systems and the RAF Museum is showcasing the iconic British fighter of the Second World War- Supermarine Spitfire fighter at the Bahrain International Airshow which began on Thursday (16-18 January).

Airbus has increased the average list prices of its aircraft by 2.6 per
cent across the product line. The new pricing is effective from January 1st
2014. The 2.6 per cent price increase has been calculated according to
Airbus’ standard escalation formula over the January 2013 to January
2014 period.

The MQ-5B Hunter is distinguished by its heavy fuel engines, its "wet"
(fuel-carrying) extended center wing with weapons-capable hard points
and a modern avionics suite. The MQ-5B Hunter system uses the Army's One
System ground control station and remote video terminal.

It also
carries a communications relay package to extend the radio range of
warfighters. Hunter is also equipped with a differential GPS automatic
takeoff and landing system.

The MQ-5B features a robust, fixed-wing, twin tail-boom design with
redundant control systems powered by two heavy fuel engines – one engine
to "push" and another to "pull" the air vehicle.

Another Hunter
capability is its relay mode that allows one Hunter to be controlled by
another UAV at extended ranges or over terrain obstacles typical of
those found in the Balkans and Afghanistan.

Airbus successfully completed the ultimate wing load test on its next-generation A350 XWB jetliner prototypes in December 2013, applying loads up to 1.5 times higher than those the aircraft would ever encounter in its entire in-service life.

Lockheed Martin received a $13.3 million Foreign Military Sales contract in November from the U.S. Air Force to support additional integration of the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile(JASSM) onto the Finnish Air Force F-18C/D fighter aircraft.

Currently it is the largest and heaviest aircraft in the world performing outsized commercial cargo transportation, carrying payloads weighing up to 250 tons with a 640 tons maximum take off weight.

Designed by the erstwhile Soviet Union's Antonov Design Bureau in the 1980s, An-225 was an enlargment of the An−124 Ruslan heavy transport, to airlift the Energia rocket's boosters and the Buran space shuttle for the Soviet space program.

The An-225 has become the workhorse to transport outsized cargoes worldwide, once thought impossible to move by air such as locomotives and 150-ton generators. It is also used to airlift huge quantities of emergency supplies during disaster relief operations.

Less than six months from its maiden flight in 1988, the An-225 made its maiden flight from Baikonour with its first cargo – Buran spaceship weighing more than 60 tons piggybacked. Together with Buran, An-225 performed 14 flights with total duration of 28 hours and 27 minutes.

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the following cancellation of the Buran space program, the only operational An-225 was placed in storage in 1994 and the second partially completed An-225 airframe was also stored.

In 2000, modernization of the flyable An-225 was intiated to use the airplane for transportation of commercial cargoes heavier than An-124-100 Ruslan’s payload. The only airplane is now operated by Antonov Airlines.

The An−225 holds 240 world records including transportation of the heaviest cargo weighing 253.8 tons, the heaviest mono cargo at 187 tons as well as a cargo with length 42.1m.

The aircraft has a spacious pressurized cargo compartment with a length of 43.32 m, width of 6.4 m and height of 4.4 m. It is powered by six Ivchenko Progress D-18T turbofan engines with 229.5 kN (51,600 lbf) thrust each.

In 2009, maintenance was carried out on An-225 to extend its operational life to 20000 flight hours or 4000 flights, equal to 45 years of operation, extending it opertional life through 2033.

BAE system engineers have successfully flight tested metal parts produced through 3D printing, for the first time on-board a RAF Tornado GR4 fighter jet.
The 3D metal camera bracket was test flown from BAE's airfield at Warton in Lancashire.
BAE say's some of the parts cost less than £100 per piece to manufacture, and has already resulted in savings of more than £300,000 and will offer further potential cost savings of more than £1.2 million by 2017.
BAE is also designing and producing 3D printed functional components at RAF Marham airbase to support the Tornado when it is being maintained on the ground.
The parts are made from a plastic material and include protective covers for Tornado cockpit radios, support struts on the air intake door and protective guards for Power Take-off shafts.
Watch 3D printing machine video here
www.youtube.com/watch?v=33wIEBb9yoU

Image Credit:

NASA/Bill Ingalls

Leading U.S. Space technology company Orbital Sciences Corporation successfully launched its Antares™ medium-class rocket carrying the first of eight Cygnus™ cargo logistics spacecraft missions to the International Space Station (ISS) as part of its $1.9 billion Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract with NASA.

After three years and nine months of maintenance, US Air Force and Northrop Grumman restored the B-2 Stealth Bomber "Spirit of Washington" to full mission ready status, after an engine fire in 2010 badly damaged the aircraft.